Blades man charged in burglary after K-9 finds stolen guns

A 22-year-old Blades man was arrested on charges of burglary, theft and other crimes Thursday after a police K-9 found a stash of stolen guns in a wooden area near Seaford.

By Scott Goss

A 22-year-old Blades man was arrested on charges of burglary, theft and other crimes Thursday after a police K-9 found a stash of stolen guns in a wooden area near Seaford.

Police received a report of a suspicious person carrying long guns under a blanket in the area of Clark Road near south of Seaford just after 10 a.m. Thursday, Delaware State Police spokesman Master Cpl. Gary Fournier said.

William R. Hawkins III, who reportedly matched the description given by the tipster, was stopped and questioned by a responding trooper on nearby River Road.

Hawkins, however, was not carrying a blanket or guns and was later released, Fournier said.

Soon thereafter, the tipster contacted police a second time and reported that the suspicious person might have discarded the blanket and guns in a wooded area off of Clark Road.

State police K-9 trooper “Cid” later discovered seven firearms, including shotguns and rifles, as well as ammunition, wrapped inside a blanket in the woods off of Clark Road.

Police then arrested Hawkins at his home in Blades.

Further investigation revealed Hawkins had stolen the weapons while burglarizing the home of a 36-year-old Seaford-area man in the 7000 block of Gum Branch Road earlier the same day, Fournier said.

Hawkins is charged with burglary, seven counts of firearm theft, eight counts of possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, possession of burglary tools and criminal mischief.

He is being held at the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown in lieu of a $108,500 secured bond, Fournier said.